Breaking News: Ricky Martin, Elena Roger & Michael Cerveris to Depart EVITA January 26, 2013; New Stars to Be Announced

Producers Hal Luftig and Scott Sanders announced today that Grammy Award-winning international pop icon Ricky Martin as Che, Olivier Award-winning Argentinean actress Elena Roger as Eva Perón and Tony Award-winner Michael Cerveris as Juan Perón will continue their acclaimed run in Evita for two more months and play their final performance on Saturday, January 26, 2013.

This record-breaking, Tony-nominated production of Tim Rice's and Andrew Lloyd Webber's landmark musical will continue its open-ended run following the original stars' departure. The new stars will be announced at a later date.

Directed by Tony and Olivier Award winner Michael Grandage and choreographed by Tony Award winner Rob Ashford, Evita began previews March 12 and opened on April 5, 2012 at The Marquis Theatre (1535 Broadway).

Eva Perón used her beauty and charisma to rise meteorically from the slums of Argentina to the presidential mansion as First Lady. She won international acclaim and adoration from her own people as a champion of the poor, while glamour, power and greed made her one of the world's first major political celebrities. Evita tells Eva's passionate and tragic story through Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's most dazzling and beloved score, including "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," "Buenos Aires," "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" and "High Flying Adored," together with "You Must Love Me," the Oscar-winning hit from the film Evita.

Since beginning previews on March 12, 2012 at Broadway's Marquis Theatre, Evita has broken the box office record seven times. Before Evita, the previous record for an eight performance week was $1,073,881 earned by The Drowsy Chaperone for the week ending December 10, 2006. Evita first broke that record – in only six performances - the week ending March 18, 2012 with a total gross of $1,167,685, then broke its own record the week ending March 25, 2012 with a gross of $1,410,365. The production continued on the record-setting path and broke its own box office record an additional six times in the weeks ending April 1, 2012($1,424,700), April 15, 2012 ($1,505,759), April 29, 2012 ($1,515,746), May 6, 2012 ($1,533,055) and May 20, 2012 ($1,586,362).

On June 26, 2012, the complete New Broadway Cast Recording of Evita was released by Masterworks Broadway and debuted at #1 on Billboard's cast album chart and was the top selling iTunes Soundtrack in Argentina. The 2-CD set, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Nigel Wright, with Tim Rice as Executive Producer, is the first complete English language recording of the show since the original 1979 Broadway cast album.

After researching the life of Eva Perón for many years, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber released Evita in 1976 as a concept album with Julie Covington as Evita and it became a world-wide hit. Soon after, the production debuted on stage in London's West End starring Elaine Paige and directed by Hal Prince. The production transferred to Broadway and opened in 1979 starring Patti LuPone, who went on to win one of the seven 1980 Tony Awards the show earned. A major 1996 film of the musical was made starring Madonna as Evita and Antonio Banderas as Che. Michael Grandage's production of Evita, which opened in 2006, took London by storm and garnered critical acclaim for the show and its leading lady, Elena Roger.